Hostage and La Misión from Providencia Cigars, Buenaventura, and a Contest!

Providencia_Hostage_ToroThis week I dug into the new cigars from Providencia Cigar Company. I warmed up last week with an El Santo, the box pressed toro with a Nicaraguan Sumatra maduro wrapper.  I really enjoy that cigar, and was excited to sample the Hostage, their newest release.  This release came with a story of Providencia Co-founder Jim Faber’s abduction at gunpoint on a Honduran youth soccer field (the story is here in the news item I posted earlier this month). Considering it’s speculated that Jim’s abductors were Mexican gang members, it’s ironic, or perhaps fitting, that this cigar has a San Andrés wrapper. The wrapper is roughly the same shade of brown as the El Santo, which isn’t as dark as many San Andrés maduros, but the real difference to me lies in the flavor. This cigar had a unique flavor that I didn’t expect. It was a warm, fresh-baked bready flavor, not the dark coffee, cocoa flavors I  thought I’d get. I think there were some almost floral notes as well, very interesting and entertaining. I am very interested in smoking another one and probably will in the very near future. I have to find out who has these in the area, I know the guys who own Providencia have some south Jersey roots, we have to get them to visit Philly one of these days!

Providencia_LaMission_LanceroAnother new cigar from Providencia hasn’t had the official press release come out yet, but I smoked it anyway because it looked really intriguing and I couldn’t wait, was a 7½” x 38 Lancero called La Misión.  This cigar has a Honduran Habano wrapper, an Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan filler and, as I said, is a traditional Laguito No. 1 in the Cuban Vitola de Galera.  As with all of Providencia’s cigars, I believe this to be made in Honduras, and this is a difficult shape to produce, so I was quite pleased when it burned perfectly and was a pleasure to smoke until it burned my fingers. Flavor-wise, it was good, although perhaps I was spoiled by the unique flavor of the Hostage. I enjoyed the flavors it produced, they were good flavors of properly processed tobacco, with the cocoa and coffee flavors I like, with a leathery feel, and it was completely enjoyable.  I loved the size, considering I’m not a fan of short small ring gauge cigars, I do like me a lancero, and I like them a lot. I look forward to sharing the story of the La Misión when it comes out, and appreciate to folks at Providencia sending me their new goodies to try.

Curivari_BuenaVentura_BV560Several weeks ago I stopped into one of the nearby CigarCigars stores to chat with Kevin, the manager there, and he had a box of Curivari Buenaventura BV 560 on the counter and said they sold like crazy, and at $5 and change, I guess I could see why. Since I had never smoked any of the Curivari line before, let alone the Buenaventura, and had heard of them, of course, I figured it was a no-brainer to give one a shot. Kevin did say it was a great cigar, and I agree with his assessment, it was a great smoke, I enjoyed it very much. Don’t let the 560 in the name fool anyone, it’s actually not 5″ x 60, it’s 5½” x 56 (I did some research considering Curivari doesn’t seem to list this line on their site with is befuddling, so I looked at several retailers and went with the consensus, with one large one seeming to have incorrect info). I’m hoping this is a regular item in the stores, because this is a winner at a great price, it’s another cigar with a really nice flavor, it’s sweet and earthy, not heavy and burdensome on the palate, a very good smoke.

Contest!

Contest_Bleed ToolTime for another CigarCraig giveaway! This is a good one!  Last week Kevin at CigarProp.com shipped out his Kickstarter round of the Lighter Bleed Tool 2.0.  The Kickstarter was fully funded in something like 2 days, which is crazy, and it’s a super-useful tool. I’ve been using the 1.0 version religiously whenever I fill a lighter and it’s great, I never have to worry about damaging the fill valve of my expensive (or cheap) lighters with a screwdriver or other non-purpose-built tool when I bleed my lighters. Kevin very generously provided a Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 in Aluminum for today’s giveaway!  Since I can’t not include cigars, I am CigarCraig after all, and since Kevin just did a whole series of reviews on his Youtube channel of  Cornelius and Anthony cigars, and since Cornelius and Anthony cigars are among my favorites anyway, I selected a five-pack from my humidor to accompany the Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 for this giveaway! Let me tell you, the cigars I selected DO NOT SUCK! They are cigars that are my favorites and are hard to part with! Who knows what else might fall into the box while it’s being packed up. Check out Kevin’s videos, they are a hoot, leave a comment on this post to enter, and I’ll select a comment at random next Sunday, October 7, 2018. Must be of legal age to win, you know the rules. If you don’t win a bleed tool, they are available on Amazon too!

That’s all for today, hard to believe it’s the end of September already. I have to start thinking of wrapping the cigar porch for the cold weather smoking! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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36 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

36 Responses to Hostage and La Misión from Providencia Cigars, Buenaventura, and a Contest!

  1. C&A has an amazing line, and I worry about damaging the fill valve whenever i stick a knife or screwdriver in there to bleed them

  2. The Curivari line up is full of excellent cigars at very reasonable (think value) prices. Their website is woefully out of date. Thanks for another contest.

  3. Craig

    You mean I won’t have to use a knife for a bleeder tool?!?

  4. Jay Reiniger

    I’ve only had one or two CnA smokes and man they’re great. Thanks for the contest, Craig.

  5. Bob Langmaid

    Yeah… I would love to win this and stop messing up my lighters!!! Gotta’ agree that C&A Cigars totlly ROCK!!

  6. That La Misión sounds nice, and I love a good lancero!

  7. Karl Brooks

    Yes. I’m sure the Lighter Bleed Tool will work better than a fingernail.

  8. Freakboy791

    C AND A among my favs too … thanks Craig keep up the excellent work.

  9. Duane Holmes

    I’ve not had the pleasure of trying a C&A maybe this is my chance.

  10. mrpipesmokingman

    Awesome Craig 🔥🍂💨👌 Thank you for the Opportunity Brother, Love a Good contest, Love a Good Cigar . Keep it Smokey ✌✌✌

  11. Dennis Huddy

    Thank you for another contest and yes I am 3.5 times the legal age.

  12. mrpipesmokingman

    Also sadly I haven’t tried the Provadencia range but they sound like some fine cigars. Good interesting blog Craig 👏👍👍

  13. DH

    Almost bought some C&A cigars today… but I’m holding out till the Gent hits my B&Ms shelf. The bleeder tool would be fun to try instead of my little screwdriver. Great contest, Prost!

  14. John Budka

    Thanks yet again for another contest. Who can’t use another tool?

  15. Bob Peterka

    Kevin treated me to a Mac Daddy last week. Looking forward to a Cornelius.

  16. Nice review of the cigars Craig! Thanks for keeping your followers up on the latest!

  17. mostly i use a knife to bleed them and it worries me, and nothing bad from C&A so far

  18. Paul1954

    thanks for the contest. Looks like a great product, and he has a great beard!

  19. Jared Berel

    What a beauti

  20. Swede Lindstrom

    Thanks Craig, what a great idiea, Lighter Bleed Tool. This would be a great gift to have.

  21. Chase Abernathy

    C&A has quickly become one of my favorite brands!

  22. Excellent post, and shame on you Craig for never trying Curivari, but I totally understand. They are a fly under the radar cigar sadly, but also in a good way for me, because that means they will not be HTF and the price will still be reasonable. I HIGHLY recommend you start trying more Curivari’s. They have samplers out there that are very reasonable…….GOOGLE them my friend.

    Thanks to Kevin for the contest, and to you for the donation of great cigars.

  23. Lonnie Brooks

    What a great giveaway Craig, and you are correct, they do not suck. These are all fantastic smokes. Thanks for sharing a generous giveaway for us. Of course I hope I win!!!! Have a great day!

  24. Steve Christopher

    Thanks for all the great stuff you do Craig

  25. Patrick Geer

    This tool looks amazing. Thanks for all the contests, and thanks to Kevin for supplying the tool!

  26. Ted

    Yay, another contest! (Also: posting in general. I love that you have not allowed the blog to wither 🙂 )

  27. Smoke770

    Great cigars!

  28. Matt Brazofsky

    Looks like a issueu tool. Thanks for sharing.

  29. Jeff Ketcham

    Almost missed this one! Thanks for Twitter reminder.

  30. Bruce Wienckowski

    Enjoyed reading about these new cigars! Thanks for the reminder to come out here to read and post!

  31. probably a good idea to remember the cigar is La Mision, rather than La Mission. they would otherwise be dangerously close to risking a lawsuit from Pete Johnson.

    • Not cool that I misspelt that in the title and it took a week to be noticed! Thanks for the heads up and I fixed it, but it goofs things up in the URL! Very bad on my part…

  32. Another great post and another great contest. Thanks for all the info you provide, I appreciate the great resource.

  33. Greg Higham

    Gee, I’ve never had one of those before. 😎

  34. Tommy Berry

    Great stuff Craig! Thanks for sharing

  35. Brian I.

    Well, since the Powerball hasn’t yet worked out in my favor, I guess I’ll throw my hat in the ring for this one. If/when the Powerball does come through, the cigars are on me.